Golden: Buffalo, Bill, Beer—Not, Quilts

"His was the spirit of the West, typical of the West, one of her favored and favorite sons." ~~ The Denver Times ... upon the passing of William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody ~~

Yesterday, my brother, Deniz, came to stay with us for a few days. We had a lazy day at home, going out only for dinner at Basil and Barley. With everyone thus rested up, a full-day outing was just what we needed on a beautiful Colorado day ... blue skies, brilliant sunshine, high temps near 60F.

Bright and early, we headed north to Golden, eschewing I-25 for rural roads ... a change of pace. Yes, it was slower, but it gave our visitors a chance to see a bit of the scenery that is not visible from the highway. That the roads were in much better condition than I-25 made for a smoother ride ... with the added bonus of little to no traffic until we hit US-85 and beyond.

Our first stop was the Buffalo Herd Nature Preserve in Golden. Despite the preserve’s name, the animals here are American bison... direct descendants of the last wild herd that roamed in the US. The herd is maintained by the City of Denver as part of a conservancy effort. The animals can be viewed from an overlook off I-70W ... sometimes in quite close proximity to the preserve fence-line. We did see them today, but they were quite far ... up in the tree-line where some were grazing and others were resting.

Up next was an unplanned stop ... one that perhaps wreaked havoc with the main activity planned for our day in Golden. Anyway, following a winding road up Lookout Mountain, we drove three miles from the Buffalo Overlook to the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave.

Born William F Cody, Buffalo Bill got his nickname for his skill as a hunter of buffalo. The museum is dedicated to his life and the legend he became when he established the Wild West Show. Exhibits tell his story and include lots of memorabilia from the show. After wandering through the museum, we enjoyed the views from the terrace ... Denver's high rise buildings in the background ... Golden and the Coors Brewery in the foreground.

Buffalo Bill had noted in an early will that he wanted to be buried in Cody, Wyoming ... the city he founded. Later, falling in love with the views from Lookout Mountain, he rescinded that request and asked to be buried on the mountain ... in a spot overlooking the Great Plains on one side and the Rockies on the other. Of course, at the time he had no idea the view would someday be marred by tall antennas ... but that is neither here nor there.

Heading down the mountain — another winding road with some very sharp turns — we found ourselves practically on the doorstep of the Coors Brewery. No problem finding a parking spot ... no problem following directions to leave all bags in the vehicle. Then we hit a snag in the form of a long queue waiting for the brewery shuttle bus. When we were told that the wait for the bus would be 45 minutes, our group decided to grab a bite to eat first.

That was the second mistake we made. Not that the burgers and hot dogs at Bob's Atomic Burger — a hole-in-the-wall joint — were bad. The food, in fact, was quite good ... even if the ambiance was lacking. But by the time we rejoined the queue, the wait time for the shuttle had doubled to 1.5 hours. So we bagged the tour. Mui later said that he read where people were complaining about long wait times for the brewery tour. If this is a regular problem, then Coors needs to rethink the way the tours are operated. Timed entry or pre-assigned group numbers would easily solve the problem and eliminate disappointments.

I had one more planned stop in Golden ... this one for the ladies, though the men were welcome to join us if they so chose. They didn’t. This stop was at the Quilt Museum. A small museum ... a little over-priced IMHO. But the quilts on display in the two rooms were truly works of art. I enjoy crafts ... but I don't have the patience for this particular handicraft.

Having taken the slow way up to Golden, the plan was to return to Colorado Springs by the faster I-25 route. We got started that way. But when the GPS added a 45-minute delay due to construction work, we hightailed it on to the backroads again. We probably didn't save time by doing so, but at least we kept moving. And of course, once again there was less traffic and better scenery along the way to entertain us.

If you'd like to see more photos (especially of the quilts), click the following link to visit my online gallery: https://eenusa.smugmug.com/North-America-US-Can….Read more